Re: The National, October 2010

Re: The National, October 2010

dunno if you all saw my post but The National totally destroyed at ACL last night. So fucking good. 3rd time seeing them but this show was really above and beyond what I'd seen from them before. I wish I could be more articulate about why.

Re: The National, October 2010

I saw them in Atlanta last week and it was a remarkable show – beautiful and ferocious and euphoric, sometimes all at the same time. Also, Matt and the Dessner brothers are really funny. Here's the setlist:

Re: The National, October 2010

Originally Posted by roberto73

I saw them in Atlanta last week and it was a remarkable show – beautiful and ferocious and euphoric, sometimes all at the same time. Also, Matt and the Dessner brothers are really funny. Here's the setlist:

Re: The National, October 2010

This was played exactly as typed.

Great show. They finished with a quiet acoustic version of Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks with the entire band at the front of the stage quietly playing while Matt sang without a microphone. It was a perfect ending to the show. The band was staying at Hotel Congress which is across the street so they also dedicated Anyone's Ghost to the Hotel Congress which is haunted. Matt also said the room he was staying in was between two haunted rooms.

The highlight for me was Available. Which is also the oldest of the songs they play and the only one from Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers. I didn't get enough so i'm glad I get more tomorrow. I was hoping for either Geese of Beverly Road or 90 Mile Water Wall which they have been playing here and there lately so hopefully we get one or both of those tomorrow.

Re: The National, October 2010

"Apartment Story" sounded great, "England" had great screaming and "Squalor Victoria" was the best I've ever seen it and that already was my favorite of their songs I've seen live. Matt was in an entertaining mood; I enjoyed him asking if anyone saw Pavement when they came through Phoenix and the aftermath of that faux pas.

Re: The National, October 2010

The banter and intro of the songs cracked me up because it was all the same type of jokes despite their claim they would be trying out new jokes. They simply interchanged their talk ups. For instance in Tucson used their whole Modified 2005 talk up to introduce Abel and last night they used it for Baby We'll Be Fine.

The Pavement awkardness was priceless. I'm a huge fan of the new quiet ending with Vanderlyle as well. After seeing that two nights in a row I think it's going to be the closer for a bit and it works beautifully.

I thought the sound last night was incredible at the Marquee. It was so loud and clear. The energy was definitely a bit higher last night too.

Re: The National, October 2010

Just an amazing show. One of the best I have seen overall in a long time. Sound was great, energy was great. Was glad to see the crowd so into it. You could tell they were really feeding off the energy.

Matt going through the crowd during Terrible Love was cool. Patted him on the shoulder as he walked by, and he did the same.

I agree with John on Squalor and England, and Apartment Story. All the songs were great, though...hard to pick one favorite.

Re: The National, October 2010

The National at Marquee Theatre Last Night
By Martin Cizmar, Fri., Oct. 15 2010 @ 8:53AM

The National
October 14, 2010
Marquee Theatre in Tempe

The National's singer, Matt Berninger, has a reputation for performing drunk. It hasn't been a huge problem -- never leading to a canceled tour or even ruining a high-profile show as far as I know -- but the bottle on the drum riser is a well-known crutch for the introverted frontman.

So it was nice to see the impossibly rich baritone seem sharp and sober at Marquee Theatre as his Brooklyn-based band played the Valley for the first time in five years.

Until the encore, anyway.

Upon returning to stage after only the briefest of breaks, Berninger busted out a bottle, pouring two solo cups for people in the audience and taking (ahem) a few sips himself. Maybe he'd been swilling all along, but the effects hadn't been noticeable until they got hard to ignore.The first song the band played after re-taking the stage?

"All The Wine" from 2005's Alligator.
And all the wine is all for me
And all the wine is all for me
And all the wine is all for me
​
Those lyrics are a little misleading. Like I said, Berninger shared his booze. Also, the bottle looked more like hard liquor than wine from my vantage point. Still, could the song selection be more than coincidence?

Disappointingly, the encore that followed was pretty weak. It was an unfitting end to a very impressive show by the band, originally formed in Cincinnati. As I said, maybe he'd been drinking all along, without ill effect, but things went downhill in a hurry.

For the most part, "Wine" was, like the 15 songs before it, simultaneously stirring and restrained in a thoroughly engaging way, but with some awkward gestures and missed notes. By the second offering (the band's all-time best song, "Mr. November") the ethanol Berninger had consumed was acting as a central nervous system depressant, impairing his ability to moderate his voice, which sadly slipped from "anthemically sad" to flat-out raspy. (The performance looked a lot like this video from May.)

"Terrible Love," which came next, wasn't as terrible as, say, walking with spiders, but it was dramatically less engaging than "Bloodbuzz Ohio," the first single off the album the band is promoting, High Violet, which came early in the set and was, for my money, the highlight of the night. A floor foray that took Berninger into the crowd and all the way to the soundboard couldn't save the song.

By the closer, an acoustic and mic-less version of " Vanderlylle Cry Baby," things hit bottom for Berninger. He stood at the side of the stage flapping his arms around like an impotent little penguin while his bandmates led a room-wide sing-along. They did a nice job, but it wasn't quite the same.
Here's the thing: All things considered, this was actually still a great show. The band was that impressive for most of their set.

The eight-piece touring version of The National seemed poised, professional and totally "on" from just after their entrance (they sort of skidded onto the stage, taking an awkward amount of time to start playing after the lights dimmed) to the ill-fated encore. The louder, faster songs, like "Brainy" and "Conversation 16," predictably got the biggest response, but there was hardly a miss in the first 80 minutes of the concert.

For that, The National deserves a lot of credit.

They just need to get a little of that Mariano Rivera spirit going, too.

Critic's Notebook:

Personal bias: I'm also an Ohioan. The part I'm from usually doesn't want anything to do with the part these guys are from, but we make an exception for them, Foxy and The Greenhornes.

The crowd: Put it this way, there were a lot of fixies parked out front.

Overheard: "It's so hot in here!" It was a little warm, but those words were obviously spoken by someone who hadn't been to Clubhouse for Sleigh Bells or Matt and Kim.

Random notebook dump: The encore was pretty rough. Ran onto the crowd scratching his head in the way only drunk people do slapping his side awkwardly

Re: The National, October 2010

Overheard walking back after on the Mill Bridge

"OK, think back on all the songs you didn't know... only like two of them were good."
"Yeah, I guess you are right."

That article is silly. The "floor foray" was fun and that song didn't need saving. "Mr November" was great and I liked that they tried for something different/special with "Vanderlyle..." and I think it closed things well, even with a somewhat rude crowd.